


Ninth Time Lucky

by gingerpolyglot



Category: The Losers (2010), The Losers (Comic)
Genre: Comics Spoilers, M/M, Reunions, post-comics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18891193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerpolyglot/pseuds/gingerpolyglot
Summary: It was a well known fact among the single parents of Derry Elementary School that Jacob "Call me Jake" Jensen was a catch. Much to the chagrin of the various single parents trying and perennially failing to obtain a date with him, Jake himself was entirely oblivious to their designs.One sunny day, they all find out why.





	Ninth Time Lucky

It was a well known fact among the single parents of Derry Elementary School that Jacob "Call me Jake" Jensen was a catch. He wasn't a parent - oh no. Jake was sweet little Beth Jensen's doting uncle, which combined with his incredible physique and shy rambling to make him the most sought-after date among the single parents and guardians of the fourth grade class. He was also, it was well known, painfully oblivious to the many advances sent his way.

Jake picked up his niece from school every Tuesday and Thursday, and sometimes Fridays when Beth's mom Jess couldn't get off work in time. Almost every single mom and a handful of the single dads had tried and failed to catch his attention. Some were more brazen than others, but Jake seemed to take any invitation for coffee or dinner or a drink as an attempt to set up a play-date for Beth. It worked out well for the nine year old, who made friends easily and who had probably played with most of her class at this point, but it was incredibly vexing for the interested parents.

Still, Sophie thought she had a shot. Her daughter Parker was friends with Beth, so she'd had plenty of opportunities to get to know Jake. He was sweet. Charming in his goofy, awkward way and wildly intelligent, not to mention his beautiful shoulders and quirky facial hair. She located her quarry standing around waiting for the 3:15 bell to ring and made her way over to him, easily engaging him in small talk by asking about the Petunias' latest game. She was just turning the conversation towards their shared foodie interests asking him to dinner at a new Indian restaurant when the doors opened and the kids came running out.

She and Jake turned toward the noise, keeping up their conversation while searching the hordes for their charges. Sophie found Parker easily enough, but gave her the nod to go play for a few minutes so as to keep Jake to herself a little longer. Jake gave Beth the same signal, and Sophie silently celebrated her success. They turned to keep the kids in their sights, and Sophie cheered a second win - Beth and Parker were playing some form of tag together with a few other classmates.

She had just begun her hard sell ("I'd love to take you there, why don't we set the kids up with a playdate at Jess' house and you and I can go try the papri chaat") when something unusual caught her eye. Beth had frozen in her game with the others and was staring wide-eyed at the parking lot. Jake had clearly noticed, if the way he'd tensed and rather obviously stopped paying attention to her was any indication. He started to move toward Beth when she unfroze and started sprinting in the direction of her gaze.

"Tio Cougar!" Beth shouted as she ran, arms outstretched. Beside her, Sophie saw Jake stop mid-gesture and turn unnervingly still. She turned to watch Beth, baffled by the new development. A slender man in a cowboy hat was kneeling in the grass, arms out as Beth barrelled into him. He hugged Beth tightly and leaned down to whisper something to her. She nodded and ran off, still grinning, and Sophie turned back to Jake to see he was still standing uncharacteristically motionless with a look on his face caught somewhere between grief and rage.

"Sophie?" Jake asked tersely.

"Yeah?"

Sophie noted out of the corner of her eye that the man in the cowboy hat was making his way over to where the pair of them stood, his expression masked by his hat.

"You heard that, right? Beth just shouted for Tio Cougar?"

Sophie frowned but nodded. Jake closed his eyes and exhaled harshly. "See, that's what I was afraid of," he said lowly.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing like that. Except Tio Cougar shouldn't be here," Jake began in a hard voice. "Tio Cougar died six months ago. So if Bethie was running to Tio Cougar, that means he's here, and that means he's alive. Which means the fucker didn't die, and if he didn't die he let me-us- think he had for six fucking months!" Jake said, finishing on a shout but still not turning around.

Sophie was startled by the profanity - while Jake wasn't exactly Captain America, he didn't tend to use language like that around the kids. She was still processing when a new party made itself known.

Very softly, a male voice behind them called out: "Jake."

Jake froze again, hands clenched tightly at his sides. The man tried again, a little more forcefully this time.  
  
"Jake, por favor." Slowly, Jake turned around, keeping his eyes trained on the ground until the last minute. Finally he looked up and made a noise like he'd been stabbed.  
  
"Cougar, you bastard," he gasped out, then stumbled forward to collapse on top of the other man who looked about as gutted as Jake sounded.

Sophie glanced away, feeling voyeuristic taking in the intimate scene, though she caught snippets of their conversation as she kept an eye on the children on the playground.

"-damn you, you feline bastard, I thought..."  
"Lo siento, Jake, I couldn't..."  
"Fuck, Carlos, please don't ever do that again..."  
"Te lo prometo, I promise, not again..."

The conversation trailed off and Sophie thought it might finally be safe to turn around again, but instead she was met with the sight of the two men wrapped tightly around each other and fused at the lips. Well, she thought, that at least somewhat settles the bet on whether or not he's gay.

Oblivious to Sophie's internal thoughts, and indeed everything else around them, Jake and Cougar stayed twined together, only parting when the need for air became overwhelming. Even then, they stayed tightly pressed against each other. Beth raced over when she saw they were talking and latched onto Cougar's leg. He knelt down and hugged her fiercely again, before rising and taking one Jensen in each hand.

Sophie watched the three of them go, happy for Jake despite herself. Oh well, maybe she'd set her sights differently - Alec and Eliot Ford's father Nate was single, and she knew from chaperoning school trips that they shared a particular love of art. Yes, perhaps Nate was a more attainable goal.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos if you spotted the brief cameos of a certain crew - I couldn't help myself


End file.
